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The Value of Quiet

By: Timber Jones

There are, I’ve noticed, fewer and fewer quiet places in this old world.  It seems that no matter where you go there is an abundance of noise.  Perhaps since noise fills the room, folks feel less lonely with scatterings of blips, bleeps, and bumps.  With yapping, yelling, and well, anything to interrupt the quiet in the room.

Folks seem to be talking louder and even driving louder.  Loud, big talking and loud, big engines all give a sense of dominance, but are in reality pretty much just loud and big.

Maybe it’s just me.  Maybe it’s increasingly just me, but I prefer quiet.  Quiet can also keep you company.  You can learn a lot about yourself when you are surrounded by quiet.  It’s easy to be noisy, but it takes a little more effort to be, and to enjoy, the quiet stillness.

Since generally nothing is happening when it is quiet, a fellow needs to be patient.  He needs to learn the art of contentment.  Man makes noise.  God makes things quiet.  But make no mistake, I know that if He was willing (and one day He will be willing!), God can make a right, big racket!

But for now, God is in the quietness of life and most likely wants to meet you there.

The toughest folks I know and have known were also the most patient, most kind, the most gentle, self-controlled….sound familiar?  I am convinced that God likes quiet, too.  After all, He did tell us to “Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life….”.

Man, from the beginning, has wanted to make a show for himself.  He always wants to outdo himself – make things bigger, better, and of course, louder!  But if you just sit in your chair or on a log in the woods and listen to the quiet, you may notice something quite striking…God did a really, really, and I mean really great job with His Creation!  It doesn’t need remodeling.  It doesn’t need any more noise.  We are drowning out the sounds that God gave to us.  The last time I went camping there was an RV-er down the way from us whose generator was so loud I couldn’t hear the crackling of my fire!  That’s one of the many reasons I prefer primitive camping, but that’s another story. 

God’s noises, the quiet noises all around us are waiting to be heard, if we will just turn down the volume of our voices, our machines, and our everyday racket. Noises like the songs of birds, the wind in the trees, the rolling of thunder, the crunching of leaves, rain on the roof, the cracking of ice, acorns hitting the forest floor, and the sound of your own sigh when you take the time to hear it all.

It takes patience, it takes humility, and it takes some willpower to find the value of quiet, but it comes with the promise of toughness and joy and the understanding of the quiet nature of God.